CPAC 2014: Live Updates, Schedule, Speakers and Best Moments

The three-day Conservative Political Action Conference is taking place near Washington, DC. Think of it as an early Republican spring training for the 2016 presidential campaign — a chance for potential candidates to talk to conservative activists and for those activists to talk to each other about their early favorites. Organized by the American Conservative Union, the conference runs through Saturday and will feature some of the brightest stars in GOP politics.

The three-day Conservative Political Action Conference is taking place near Washington, DC. Think of it as an early Republican spring training for the 2016 presidential campaign — a chance for potential candidates to talk to conservative activists and for those activists to talk to each other about their early favorites. Organized by the American Conservative Union, the conference runs through Saturday and will feature some of the brightest stars in GOP politics.

by Michael Falcone3/6/2014 2:01:24 PM

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THE CONSERVATIVES YOU SHOULD KNOW AT CPAC 2014

Among the bevvy of boldfaced names on this year’s CPAC agenda, there are a slew of rising stars that could play a role in the Republican Party's efforts to define or re-define itself as the Obama era comes to a close. On CPAC's big platform, with the national media tuning in, stars are often born. ABC’s ABBY PHILLIP identified eight conservative influencers to know at this year's CPAC gathering.

ABC Newsintro: One of the biggest events in conservative politics is upon us.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, which is organized by the 50-year old American Conservative Union, starts today, and it has become a rite of passage for anyone who wants to be a major player in the grassroots and...

by Michael Falcone3/6/2014 2:23:02 PM

TED CRUZ KICKS OFF CPAC WITH JAB AT ROMNEY AND MCCAIN

ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, kicked off CPAC today, lamenting the fact that Republican candidates were unable to win elections in 2006, 2008 and 2012, and pointed to the fact that Republicans were able to win in 2010 when the Tea Party took Congress in an “historic tidal wave of an election.”

“’06, ’08, and ’12 we put our head down. We stood for nothing, and we got walloped,” Cruz said. “The one election that was a tremendous election was 2010 when Republicans drew a line in the sand. "Did we get President Dole and President McCain and President Romney? No,” Cruz said.

“Then of course all of us remember President Dole and President McCain and President Romney,” Cruz joked.

Cruz argued that only two Republican figures have rallied droves of young conservatives – Ronald Regan and Ron Paul.

“The key is being named Ronald,” Cruz joked.

Cruz talked about the corruption in Washington, D.C. and said the American people need to stand up against it.

“You win elections by standing on principles and inspiring people,” he said.Cruz suggested putting a lifetime ban on lobbying on members of Congress as well as called for a constitutional amendment setting term limits.

Opposition researchers in Democratic war rooms around Washington will be keeping a close eye on CPAC, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice on any gaffe, blunder or controversial remark. The Democratic super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, is out with a graphic highlighting what they say is a heavy skew toward male speakers at the conference.

ABC’s ALEX MALLIN: Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., the 2012 vice presidential nominee, sought to the counter conventional wisdom that the GOP is in the midst of a “civil war” in his address at CPAC this morning.

“I don’t see this great divide in our party,” Ryan said. “I see it as a vibrant debate.”

Ryan laughed off comments, especially from Democrats, that the Republican Party is in turmoil.

ABC's ALEX MALLIN: John Bolton, the former ambassador to the United Nations during President George W. Bush’s administration, ripped into President Obama’s national security policies in his CPAC speech, saying Americans can no longer accept a President who is “weak, indecisive and apologetic about our country.”

“Can you just imagine Reagan dealing with Vladimir Putin?” Bolton said. “Vladimir Putin has a strategy. Obama has nothing.”

Bolton tore into the president on everything from China to Latin America, but his most fiery words came as he attacked the president and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

“Under Barack Obama, you can murder his personal representative and get away scot free,” Bolton said. “We are happy to tell Hillary Clinton we know what difference it makes even if you don’t.”

Turns out it was a gift from the National Rifle Association, to his retiring colleague, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, who is leaving his term early for health reasons. “This is for you,” McConnell said. “For your distinguished service.”

ABC’s ALEX MALLIN: Gov. Chris Christie used his CPAC speech to flip the narrative on Democrats, saying they, rather than Republicans, are “the party of intolerance.”

Christie, who remains under the cloud of scandal back in his state, relayed an exchange he said he had with a reporter who asked about his success in a traditionally blue state like New Jersey.

“You say the Republicans are intolerant. Well, at our national convention we’ve had people like Tom Ridge and Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice speak at our national convention, even though I and our platform don’t agree with their positions on abortion,” Christie said. “I told him, ‘tell me, sir, the last pro-life Democrat who was allowed to speak at a Democratic convention?’ and I said, ‘oh by the way, don’t strain yourself, because there’s never been one.”

ABC's ERIN DOOLEY: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal questioned President Obama's intelligence today in a series of jabs that included an assessment that Obama has been a worse president than Jimmy Carter, who he once called the most incompetent president in his lifetime.

"It's no longer fair to say he was the worst president," Jindal said of Carter. "Obama has proven me wrong."

"We have long said this president is a smart man,” the Louisiana governor noted. “It may be time to revisit that assumption."

ABC's ERIN DOOLEY: NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre delivered a harsh indictment of the press in his CPAC speech today.

“Political dishonesty and media dishonesty have linked together; they’ve joined forces to deceive and misinform the American public,” he declared. “Rather than expose government dishonesty and scandal like they used to, the media elites whitewash it all … with the deliberate spinning and purposeful use of words and language, truth be damned, to advance their own agenda.”

Reporters, he said, “try to ridicule us into oblivion or shame us into submission,” said LaPierre, an outspoken opponent of gun control and a fierce defender of the Second Amendment.

“Here’s how you know the media’s lying: they still call themselves journalists.”

ABC’s ERIN DOOLEY: In a meandering CPAC speech, Donald Trump – who proudly announced he refused a teleprompter – predicted an “economic catastrophe” in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“Whoever’s president, good luck!” he shrugged. “We’re becoming a third world country!”

The real estate mogul, who has hinted he may run for president in 2016, touched on a laundry list of hot-button issues: Obamacare , instability in the Middle East, the rise of China, economic troubles at home and foreign aid, among others.

On the issue of immigration, Trump declared: “We’re either a country or we’re not. We either have borders or we don’t.”

“If we don’t have a border, what are we – just a nothing?” he asked, noting that the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally are unlikely to vote the GOP ticket “no matter how nice you are.”

PERRY CALLS FOR A ‘REBELLION' OF IDEAS, WANTS MAIL DELIVERED ON SATURDAYS

ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ: Texas Governor Rick Perry opened up Day Two of CPAC, driving a half-filled crowd to their feet despite an early morning time spot. Perry pointed to states like Texas and Wisconsin as beacons for conservative ideas.

“It’s time for a little rebellion on the battlefield of ideas,” Perry said to applause. And the Texas governor really wants to make sure the federal government keeps delivering his mail on Saturdays.

“Deliver the mail, preferably on time and on Saturdays,” Perry said to loud applause from the crowd.

The crowd stood on their feet and cheered on the governor for nearly the last 30 seconds of his speech.

ABC’s MICHAEL FALCONE: As the United States and Russia butt heads over Ukraine, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and unsuccessful presidential candidate turned Fox News host, offered a scathing critique of the Obama administration’s national security strategy on Friday.

Speaking on the second day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Huckabee declared that in the second term of the Obama presidency there is “not one country anywhere with whom we have a better relationship than we did before.”

“No one trusts us, no one listens to us, no one respects us and no one fears us,” he complained.

And when it comes to the Russian leader whose provocative actions in Ukraine have flummoxed the White House foreign policy team, Huckabee quipped, “The only time Vladimir Putin shivers is when he has his shirt off in a cold Russian winter.”

Huckabee added that Israel, a country he called America’s “one true ally,” has been “incredibly mistreated” by the Obama administration.

“It is the duty and responsibility of the American government to make us safer and more secure not less,” he said.

Huckabee, who said in December that he was not closing the door on a 2016 presidential run, fit in a mild jab at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who under intense questioning from members of Congress about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya once told lawmakers: “What difference at this point does it make?”

“With all due respect to Hillary Clinton,” Huckabee said in his speech to the conservative gathering, “it does make a difference.”

The former pastor, who competed for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, threaded his speech with biblical references -- even though, he noted, talking about God in America is not always “politically correct.”

“A nation that can remember him will be a nation that will be remembered by him,” he said.

The former National Security Council staffer, known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration, spoke against a backdrop of rollicking rock music and dramatic footage of American troops in the Middle East.

North also insisted Congress should demand accountability for “a string of horrific scandals and cover-ups,” including the attack on an American consulate in Benghazi, the alleged targeting of conservatives by the IRS, and NSA surveillance.

HUCKABEE: BILL CLINTON'S PAST SHOULD NOT BE LINE OF ATTACK AGAINST HILLARY

ABC’s JEFF ZELENY: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Friday that former President Bill Clinton's past should not be a line of attack in a campaign against Hillary Clinton.

"I'm not sure that's what we want to do," Huckabee told reporters at CPAC.

I asked him if Rand Paul's "sexual predator" remarks about Bill Clinton are a fair critique. He said: Bill Clinton won't be on the ballot. He added that he would rather avoid reliving the Monica Lewinsky saga.

ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Rep. Paul Ryan found himself in a bit of a mess after his CPAC speech yesterday. In his address he recounted an anecdote, noting it was told to him by Eloise Anderson, a cabinet member of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Ryan repeated the story about a young boy who instead of wanting free school lunches, wanted a lunch packed in a brown bag, saying that meant someone cared for him. Turns out, the story was actually lifted from a memoir called “The Invisible Thread” about a friendship between a middle-aged white woman and an African American boy she became friends with in New York. Ryan was forced to apologize, after several journalists exposed the lift, which he did on his Facebook page:

“At CPAC, I shared a story I heard from Eloise Anderson, the secretary for children and families for the state of Wisconsin. She mentioned it in her testimony for a House Budget Committee hearing last year. I have just learned that Secretary Anderson misspoke, and that the story she told was improperly sourced. I regret failing to verify the original source of the story, but I appreciate her taking the time to share her insights."

by Michael Falcone3/7/2014 8:33:14 PM

RAND PAUL TO OBAMA: ‘WE WILL NOT LET YOU SHRED OUR CONSTITUTION’

ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the Obama administration over National Security Agency surveillance programs, delivered a rhetorical gut punch to the president on privacy issues Friday.

“I think what you do on your cell phone is none of their damn business,” Paul told a riled-up conservative audience.

“We will not be detained, spied upon, or have our rights abridged,” the Kentucky senator said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We will not submit, and we will not trade our liberty for security -- not now not ever.”

Paul asked the crowd this question -- “Will we be like lemmings rushing to the comfort of Big Brother’s crushing embrace?” – and exhorted them “not to sit idly by.”

“Mr. President we won’t let you -- we will not let you -- run roughshod over our rights,” said Paul. “Mr. President we will not let you shred our Constitution.”

Considered to be a possible 2016 presidential contender, one of several who spoke at the three-day conference, Paul did not address his own aspirations, but asked the crowd to “imagine a time when the White House is once again occupied by a friend of liberty.”

ABC’s ERIN DOOLEY: In stark contrast to yesterday’s speech by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 2012 presidential contender Rick Santorum today said the GOP must not compromise in order to win back the White House in 2016 -- a stance that met with thunderous applause from the CPAC crowd.

“I hear a lot of, ‘we have to win,” Santorum said. “Now, we all know what they mean. They actually mean, we have to lose. We have to lose those currently unfashionable stances on cultural … issues.”

“That may result in a win for a Republican candidate, but it will be a devastating loss for America,” he said. “I’m not here fighting just to elect Republican candidates and let them win. I’m here to see America win.”

The former Senator also criticized current Republican rhetoric, which he said focuses on “job creators, not job holders” and uses “class-envy, leftist language that divides America against itself.”